1. Field
The following description relates to technology capable of reducing power consumption of an optical network unit (ONU) to be used in an optical network.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technology for effectively providing a band necessary for a user end, optical network technology has a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint structure. An optical line terminal (OLT) has an interface for supporting a plurality of ONUs, and has the right to control all ONUs. In general, the point-to-point structure is mainly used in an active optical network (AON) and the point-to-multipoint structure is mainly used in a passive optical network (PON). The AON and PON are being standardized by international standardization organizations such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T).
As communication network systems are widely used in homes or offices at a high speed, the interest of efficient power consumption is also increasing. This phenomenon is not an exception even in an optical access network. Power supplies of an OLT and ONU constituting the optical access network are turned on for 24 hours of one day and 365 days of one year. Accordingly, when an actual use time of a user is assumed to be about 20%, an amount of dissipated power is significantly large. The need for research on various power saving techniques for reducing the above-described power consumption is increasing.